FACTBOX-Proposed tax changes in India 2009/10 budget

NEW DELHI, July 6 (Reuters) - India's finance minister on Monday proposed increasing the minimum alternate tax on firms, but scrapped a tax on commodity transactions.

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Following are some of the proposed tax changes:

DIRECT TAXES

* No changes in corporate taxes

* Raises Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) to 15 percent from 10 percent. The MAT was earlier introduced to make sure companies do not totally avoid taxation by claiming various deductions that cancelled out their tax liability altogether.

* Extends tax credit carry-over period under MAT to 10 years from seven years.

* Scraps Commodity Transaction Tax

* Scraps Fringe Benefit Tax

* Extends sunset clause on tax holidays for export profits by one year to 2010/11

* Tax holiday for natural gas production

* Increases personal income tax exemption to senior citizens by 15,000 rupees, by 10,000 rupees for others

* Elimiates 10 percent surcharge on personal income tax

INDIRECT TAXES